bio

Zia Ur Rehman is an award-winning journalist and researcher who is currently working as a Senior Reporter with The News International, one of the Pakistan’s leading newspapers. He is also associated with New York Times. Besides it, his writes up also appears in different national and international media outlets including Dawn, The Friday Times, Central Asia Online, The National, CTC Sentinel, Jamestown Foundation, The News International, Herald, Pique, Viewpoint Online and Counter Current.

Rehman has also worked with Management Systems International (MSI), Open Society Foundation, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and Labour Education Foundation (LEF) . He is also author of a book titled 'Turmoil in Karachi'.

He belongs from Swat Valley, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa but lives in Karachi. He did his graduations in Mass Communications and Gender Studies from University of Karachi.

KARACHI – Sindh’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested three suspects belonging to the Abu Mansoor group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The three were involved in assassinations of “pro-government” Swat residents visiting Karachi, officials said.

Central Asia Online exclusively reported that TTP Swat militants who fled to Karachi after a military operation began in Swat have been assassinating pro-government Swat residents under cover of the targeted killings.

After reports from intelligence agencies and media suggested dozens of Swat anti-Taliban peace committee members had been killed in the past year in Karachi, CID personnel raided Orangi Town’s Sector 10-1/2 under the supervision of Superintendent of Police (SP) Fayyaz Khan May 19, said a CID official.

Police also recovered 20kg of explosives, two hand grenades and other arms, he added.

The arrested militants were associated with TTP Swat’s Abu Mansoor Group in the valley but in Karachi, they were working for the Omer Mufi group of the TTP, he said, adding that the held militants were also involved in robberies and kidnapping the businessmen for ransom to generate funds for the militant outfit, he added.

Alamzaib, in Swat, worked for a TTP local commander Akram aka Mohsin, belonging from Fateh Pur area and after joining the group, the former started to target government and military installations, said a CID official, citing the information obtained upon interrogation at the department.

Alamzaib aka Noor Shah

Following the successful military operation against the TTP in Swat, Alamzaib fled to Karachi, where he joined the TTP’s Omar Mufti and allegedly killed 18 people who were either suspected for providing information on the militants to law enforcement agencies or those who were key member of anti-Taliban peace committees in Swat, the CID official added.

Daar, another held suspect, was also an active member of the TTP and worked for the Adeel, a local commander in Matta area of Swat. Daar was also deputed with the task of targeting military personnel in Swat but due to the military operation, he also fled to Karachi where he targeted Swat’s people residing here who were suspected for giving information to Police, the CID disclosed.

Hassan Daar aka Sheena

Enamur Rehman, the third suspect, was trained for carrying out suicide attacks and was waiting for a directive from Mufi. Rehman, who joined the TTP in 2008 in Swat and worked under the local commander Hamzullah, also moved to Karachi following the military operation against militants in Swat, the CID official told the Central Asia Online.

Enamur Rehman

The three held militants were suspected of being involved in the murders of dozens of anti-Taliban people which include: Fazal Mohammad (a constable of Swat’s special Police Force) in SITE-A, Nasir Khan (A leader of Swat’s anti-Taliban peace committee in Kabal) in Peerabad, Farman Ali in Peerabad, Zahoor Ali in SITE-A, Mohammed Shakirullah Khan in SITE-A, Mohammed Ali in Peerabad and Farooq Ahmed in Momin Abad, along with several others.

The militants hiding in Karachi have been killed many elders of Swat in Karachi who were very helpful to the government during the military operation”, said She Shah, a parliamentarian from Swat valley, told the Central Asia Online.

“Government should also launch a “selective and surgical” operation against the militants who are working in different outfits in Karachi and killing peace committee members there”, Shah said.

“Recent arrests of the Swat’s militants by the CID in Karachi are of significant importance as the held militants were hardcore members of TTP Swat chapter, an official in Swat Police told the Central Asia Online.

Ibn-e-Aqeel aka Khog ans Sher Muhammad aka Yaseen are also key commanders of Swat militants hiding in Karachi who are also amongst the most wanted people in Swat, he said, adding that both are leading a group which mainly targets the anti-Taliban elders of Swat travelling to Karachi for personal and business reasons, he added.

Most of the militants fled from Swat following the military operation to Karachi have joined the ranks of the TTP-linked banned Jihadi outfits especially Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, in Karachi, he said.

KARACHI – Four officers of the Sindh Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) who shattered the network of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other banned organisations in Karachi, were key targets of the November 11 bombing of the CID building but escaped injury, Central Asia Online has learned.

”]The deadly attack began as an armed assualt and ended with a truck bomb that killed at least 20 people and wounded about 100 others, including women and children. The police reportedly used the building to detain and interrogate suspects accused of belonging to TTP and other banned organisations.

That four-man team oversees the anti-extremism cell and runs counter-terrorism operations in the city. It arrested hundreds of key leaders of the TTP, Lashkar-e-Janghvi (LeJ) and other banned jihadi organisations in a massive crackdown in Karachi, the official added.

“At the time of attack, luckily the four officers were not present at the building,” said the official.

First four attackers’ fates unknown

The four terrorists who entered the building before the blast might be dead, police officials said November 12.

“Four attackers penetrated the CID building by jumping over the wall a few minutes before the blast, and they exchanged bullets with the police,” Iftikhar Tarar, deputy inspector general of investigation in the CID of Karachi, told Central Asia Online.

“We believe that all the four attackers have also lost their lives in the bomb blast,” he said. “It would be premature to say anything about the attackers who remained outside the building.”

So far authorities know of nine policemen among the dead, he said.

He said the death toll could rise if rescue workers recover more bodies under the debris.

Counter-terror team had solid resume

The four-man CID counter-terrorist team had arrested six LeJ activists November 10. It linked the suspects to Asif Ramzi’s faction, which allegedly was involved in deadly attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas. The arrested suspects allegedly were planning sectarian killings in the city during the Islamic holy month of Muharram.

On the same day, Aslam Khan arrested Iqbal Bajauri, a militant leader from Bajaur Agency and a close aide of Maulana Faqir Muhammad, TTP’s central leader, from Minghophir.

In 2002, militants sent parcel bombs to some senior police officers, including then-Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil and Fayyaz Khan.

Fayyaz Khan was critically injured. Some credit him with arresting more than 100 high-profile terrorist suspects linked to the TTP and LeJ this year.

The CID has largely broken the TTP’s network in the city by arresting several consecutive amirs (heads) appointed for Karachi, including Akhter Zaman Mehsud and his successors, Bahadur Khan Momand (alias Sadiq) and Maulvi Saeed Anwer, a CID official said. The official said Aslam Khan and his team snatched them all.

The TTP swiftly took responsibility for the blast, saying it was meant to avenge “the arrest” of its comrades. However, Interior Minister Rehman Malik November 12 disputed that claim, saying the LeJ committed the bombing.

“By attacking the CID building, they want to give us a message that they are still alive and could strike back,” Shahid told Central Asia Online, adding that the CID will continue its anti-militant crackdown.

The militants raise funds through extortion, armed robberies and kidnappings and send the money to tribal areas where the TTP-linked militants plan terrorist acts, Shahid said. Dozens of arrests by the CID have disrupted militant fund-raising in the city, he added.

Some police sources theorise that the militants were trying to free Bajauri. However, he was not in the building.

CID attack harms civilians

Civilian casualties in the neighbourhood were numerous. A dozen houses in the nearby Civil Lines residential neighbourhood sustained damage, Moqeem Alam, a local MPA, told Central Asia Online. Most of the civilians injured were women and children, he said. Authorities have suspended gas, electricity and water service because of damage to pipelines.

Police, military and paramilitary contingents have closed off public access to the area. Authorities are searching the neighbourhood for any attackers who escaped.

“We were watching the news on TV when the firing started, then suddenly lights went out, and we heard a massive blast,” said Zarshad, a local resident who is hospitalised after a concrete slab hit him.

Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, accompanied by provincial Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza, visited the blast site to review the rescue and relief work. Shah gave assurances of the government’s all-out support for the victims and said the government would keep fighting terrorism.